Life with Ryan: Summer 2014 - Days 26

Sunday, July 13th - Day 26 through Friday, July 25th - Day 38 (California Trip)

What an incredible trip! When Joe and I initially booked this trip, we figured the timing would be good since we would have just returned from the beach and we were pretty much already packed and kind-of ready to go. I guess experience is the best teacher because we were so very wrong. Lesson learned - it's good for us to take a day in between lengthy trips anywhere. In the less than 16 hours we were home, we unpacked and repacked (and repacked again when we figured that one suitcase was over the weight limit), took a trip to Target, did a couple of loads of laundry, slept, and showered. It may not seem like a lot, but we were definitely pressed for time.

However, the trip was well worth the stress and pressure. We flew out of RDU early Sunday morning (thanks for the ride to the airport, Meaghan!) and flew into LAX. I kept on repeating the Miley Cyrus lyrics to "Party in the USA" in my head while I was in the LAX airport. We got our rental car and away we went!

In 12 days, we drove from LA, to Santa Monica, to Santa Barbara, to San Francisco, to Sacramento, back to Santa Barbara, and finally to San Diego. Almost 1500 miles in 12 days. It was A LOT of driving and spending time in the car, but the views made all the traffic and cartime worth it! Ryan did a fantastic job on both the plane ride to and from California, didn't whine too much in the car when we were taking our long(er) trips, and was such a good boy the entire trip! We have decided that the next time we go to California, we need to spend more time in San Diego since we absolutely LOVED what we got to see during our short time there.

Some highlights from the trip:
--watching the World Cup final game in a restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier
--driving around Beverly Hills
--Hollywood, in general
--Venice Beach and Manhattan Beach (SO SO AWESOME)
--all the tasty food in Santa Barbara
--nacho night :)
--the bike ride along the beach in Santa Barbara
--the "Adventure House" in Sacramento
--speedboating in San Diego (by far, our most favorite memory of the trip!)
--San Diego, in general - such a fun city!

Funny/cute Ryan quotes from our trip:
--"Hi-ho, merry-o, I'm going to throw a grape at all the people" on the airplane, waving around a grape
--Alex: "(something incoherent)"...Ryan: "whaaaaaaaaaat???"
--"Daddy, do it again!!" after jumping a wake in the speedboats
--Ryan: "Mommy, are we going to the adventure house?" Me: "No, most definitely not"
--"I want to do it..IIIIIII....I want to do it....IIIII....IIIIIIII....I can do it"
--"IIIIII....need to run away"
--"Is it time for the adventure yet?"

Here are some pictures from our trip: